It’s kind of amazing that after putting fans through countless tweaks and changes, a dreadful prequel trilogy, and shoveling mountains of shitty merchandise their way, the "Star Wars" faithful have still supported the filmmaker and turned his sci-fi adventure into a $20 billion industry.George Lucas has always had disdain towards the very people that built up his mountain of wealth, and there’s a reason why — the fans have allowed him to. With every iteration of a "Star Wars" re-release, the faithful grumble and moan and make threats and then hand over their money anyway, so what reason does Lucas have to change anything he’s doing? So it’s no suprise that on the eve of the 3D re-release of ‘The Phantom Menace,’ Lucas has no problem shooting from the hip because he knows that come Sunday night, the movie will have made him a few more million dollars anyway.

You can practically hear him rolling his eyes as The Hollywood Reporter asks him about the fan complaints about the changes he’s made over the years, and he uses the opportunity to discuss the most controversial edit made. "Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in ‘Episode IV,’ what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t," Lucas explained. "It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down."

Not to geek out or anything, but what, Han drew his gun surreptitiously under the table just for the fun of it? The entire awesomness of the (original scene) was that Han got the drop on Greedo who was too busy talking his ear off. And it’s not a matter of Han being "a cold-blooded killer," he was a smuggler saving his own skin, and looking out for his own self-interest. Which is the entire personality of Han Solo in a nutshell. #rantover Anyway, judge for yourself below whether or not Han shot first or if we were all just a bit confused.

But you know what? None of this complaining matters because addicted "Star Wars" fans will keep lining up and pouring money into Lucas’ bank account and he’ll keep tinkering, re-releasing and doing everything to grab more of their money until the end. "Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace" arrives in theaters tomorrow, but if you go see it, you’re a sucker.

And no, I'm not one of those faithful fans who is going to groan and grumble and shell out money in the end. I am a faithful fan who will own a VCR for the rest of my life so I can watch my untainted copies of the original series without ever having to pay Lucas another fucking dime so long as I shall live.

"It upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isnât."

Once again Lucas reveals he knows nothing about the language of film. The original scene was very clearly set up: Han was in a life-threatening situation (Greedo was pointing his gun at him), so he turned the tables and eliminated the threat — with trademark style. It couldn't be more simple.

This "Han's not a cold-blooded killer" argument misses the mark so wide it really makes me wonder how he managed to direct the thing.

Sorry Christopher. Its not just that he is changing his film. It that he is lying about it. The same way he lies when he says that the original Star Wars was also badly reviewed. The original film showed Han shooting first. The script never had Greedo shooting first. Kurtz has said they could have shot it differntly had George wanted.
The change IMO wouldn't have been so bad if the new version didn't look so stupid. So stupid in fact that they have cpent time and money to change it twice since then.

Lucas' logic twists my brain into a pretzel. Is he serious? What's he going to do next, change Raiders of the Lost Ark so that Indy "the cold-blooded killer" doesn't shoot down the swordsman in Egypt? That was way more hardcore than what Han does in Star Wars. Greedo had his blaster pointed at him from across the table. Last time I checked, Han shooting him under the table was SELF DEFENSE. Why doesn't Lucas get that?

I think they should change Ford's line of "I've never seen anything to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything" to "I completely believe in the Force and I would come back to save you if you were in danger, Luke." It's always made me uncomfortable to see his character change over the course of the film like that.

Really, if all you're gonna do is reexamine a film to the point of not enjoying it, then its time to move onto something else. I have no idea what this man could have done to earn so much ire from a group of people (who probably shell out money just for the sake of complaining.)

The Lucas hate is boring. Calling someone a douche because you don't like changes they made to their own product (because that's what it is, to pretend that it's anything else is, delusional) is misguided.

He obviously resents his fans. Actually, he really doesn't have many fans. There are many Star Wars fans. People do not fawn over his other efforts. Even with Indiana Jones, the adoration is split between Spielberg, Ford, and Lucas. And, in that, Lucas usually gets a lesser share. People do not admire THX-1138, American Graffiti, Willow, Howard the Duck or Radioland Murders as much. His name does make an instant hit. Red Tails proved that again. So, people have limited him to the Star Wars guy and he resents it. Has been complaining about it for years. And I believe this aggressive disdain for these fans comes from this.

Wow, Lucas is a douche. I don't understand why he can't just say: "Here's the movies the way you like them, fans," and leave it at that. He has to constantly reshuffle everything and then call all his fans whiners.